18/09/2026
In just over a decade, forest cover of Ethiopia is estimated to have increased from just 15% to almost 25% of the land.
Government, NGO and environmental initiatives have put the brakes on rapid and alarming deforestation, which is estimated to have fallen from close to 200,000 acres to just over 50,000 acres, a year.
Self Help Africa is proud to have played its part, supporting large scale tree-planting initiatives close to Lake Ziway, and other tree planting activities in projects across the country. Our annual ‘One Million Trees’ campaign, which enjoyed the backing of organisations including Glenisk , INTO, Gaelic Players Association, business organisations and the general public has planted well over a million trees in Ethiopia, and has contributed to other reforestation and land restoration efforts.
And these were desperately needed. From the turn of the century until 2025, Ethiopia lost more than a million acres (around 2,160 square miles) of tree cover to commercial logging, the use of charcoal as fuel and to the expansion of agriculture.
The Ethiopian Government’s Green Legacy Initiative (GLI), which was launched in 2019, is aiming to plant 50 billion new trees in Africa’s second most populous country, by 2030. Self Help Africa is proud to play a part in that effort.
